In the age of ‘big data’, cloud computing is very much here to stay, but there are many professionals who think that what we’ve currently got is just the beginning. For most of us, our main exposure to cloud computing will be when our smartphones sync things like photos to an online storage provider, but things could eventually go much further than that, and it’s happening quite rapidly. Read on to find out more.
The New Jersey Institute of Technology late last year published some findings on the subject, and they really are very surprising indeed. It seems that it could be just a couple of years before cloud computing is the standard for business, and anything else is seen as old hat. The headline figure behind this is that by 2017, which is just two years away, more than two thirds of businesses are expected to process their workloads in the cloud. 94% want this to happen or are already doing so. It seems that there are few barriers to entry, and that nearly all companies want in.
Money, Money, Money
The reasons behind this are relatively straightforward. By storing things in the cloud, you make data more flexible and accessible, and you’re allowing someone else to take on the responsibility of security (though this is the number one concern of people just starting out with this method of data storage). Ultimately of course, it comes down to money – more of a quarter of businesses are moving because they’ll save money by doing things this way. Landmark Technologies point out that part of this is because it means businesses don’t have to update their hardware as often.
Collaboration is another big reason for adoption – it’s much easier for large teams to work on one thing if they can all access it whenever and wherever they are.
Living in the Future
Another really impressive statistic is that you can argue that we’re already living the future. Two thirds of all digital data – all of it – is already in the cloud. Many people don’t realise just how prevalent it is, and that’s partly because they aren’t aware that what they’re doing is actually cloud computing. Many kinds of syncing comes under this.
The takeaway then is that cloud computing will soon be the standard for data storage and retrieval. We may eventually reach a point where it’s very uncommon to store files locally, because there’s simply no point. What are your thoughts on the matter?
